Sunday, November 25, 2012

All Books at the Untreed Reads Sale are 50% off all day Monday November 26th. When you buy directly from Untreed you get a pdf, a kindle copy and a nook copy all for one low price. Click below to enter the sale.

Monday, November 19, 2012

"Two of comics’ greatest talents joined forces in 1979 to bring Ridley Scott’s epic Alien motion picture to the comic book page. Out of print for over thirty years, this brand new edition has been meticulously restored from original artwork in Walt Simonson’s studio — presenting for the very first time the definitive artist’s edition of the greatest sci-fi horror ever produced."

From Titan Publishing.

Alien The Illustrated Story, feels like a remarkable time capsule, and I was filled with waves of nostalgia as I read through the 64 pages. Originally commissioned by Heavy Metal Magazine this adaptation has a look and feel of a bygone era, because it was produced in 79. Being from Heavy Metal the content never needs to be toned down, and yet it does not linger on grotesqueries, or abuse profanity.

As an huge fan of the Alien franchise, this was a blast to read, and am sure I will page through it regularly for years to come. And in an era before VHS I would have picked this up without a moments hesitation.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Robert Londrigan’s wife has just died while giving birth
prematurely. In the hospital morgue he
stands over their bodies, trying to find the words to say goodbye, when he is
attacked and savagely beaten by a deformed stranger. When he awakens he learns the body of his
child is missing. And everything he
thought he knew about the world is wrong.

“Do you despair?

Perhaps you should.”

Review;

Gary A Braunbeck’s In Silent Graves is a horror novel that
transcends the genre into literary excellence.
Braunbeck has crafted a tale that is mediation on how and why we mourn,
and what it means to lose a life and the ripples it creates throughout how you perceive
your entire world. Braunbeck also
examines the concept of family and how we define this concept as a society and
within our own lives.

Braunbeck’s prose creates an eerily surreal atmosphere,
where your senses cannot be trusted, despite how real the world around you seems. It is unclear through much of the novel if
the fantastical events that seem to surround Robert are real or reflections of
his grief.

There are a handful of brutal melee combat sequences late in
the novel that seem out of place and just extend the narrative
unnecessarily. This was my only
complaint.

In the End;

In Silent Graves has a very strong and moving message behind
it. Braunbeck’s novel is a heartfelt and eerie
masterpiece. This is one of the most
emotionally rich novels I have read in some time, especially within genre
fiction. I cannot recommend this novel
strongly enough.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

“Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.”

Cloud Atlas is a story of amazing and immense scope through small interactions between a few people at a time. This is the most compelling and emotionally rich sci/fi fantasy film I have beheld in a great while. At 2 hours and 45 minutes (and 15 minutes of trailers) I did check my watch once, but still wholly recommend this film, a financial flop of epic proportions.

Side note, I saw this the same week the new bond filmed opened and pondered this thought as I walked from the theater. Cloud Atlas carried with it an R rating, their was small amounts of profanity violence and sexual content. Yet these elements were handled with great maturity. Violence was shown as never an answer in and of itself, and always unpleasant. Sexuality was portrayed as something wholly natural and emotionally complicated. There the profanity but it was never overbearing and a crutch for the dialogue.

While I have not seen Sky Fall, I have seen many Bond films. Violence is portrayed as glamorous and the most effective manner for solving conflicts. Sexually, women are available for Bond and he treats most of them as little more than objects. But at least no one swore, because then it would not be appropriate for 13 year old boys who are by no means impressionable.

I am not suggesting Bond movies should not be seen by younger audiences, what I am suggesting is that we be willing to challenge kids intellectually and emotionally when showing them depictions of sex and violence.

Click above for an amazing piece from The New Yorker on the Wachowskis.

Friday, November 9, 2012

In this action-packed novel, Jake Helman—the ex-cop and
zombie killer—has set up shop as a private investigator in lower Manhattan.
When a woman hires Jake to prove that her dead grandson is dealing a deadly new
drug called “Black Magic” on a Brooklyn street corner, Jake uncovers a plot by
a vicious drug lord to use voodoo in an effort to seize the streets of New York
City. Gun-wielding zombie assassins, hallucinations, and betrayals confront
Jake at every corner, but voodoo creates more terror than zombies, and Jake
finds himself poised on the edge of insanity as he fights to restore the soul
of the one person he trusts. A combination of hard-core horror and hard-boiled
crime fiction, this thriller is gripping and suspenseful.

Review;

Gregory Lamberson’s Jake Helman returns in the sequel to
Personal Demons. The former NYPD widower
is now a private investigator who stumbles into a voodoo infused mystery.

Desperate Souls starts hard and fast and is damned gripping. Lamberson seamlessly interweaves the events
from Personal Demons into the early chapters without bogging the narrative down
in needless exposition. This sequel
works well, because the outcomes from Personal Demons play pivotal roles in the
novel.

Lamberson writes Helman incredibly well. The P.I influenced attitude of our favorite
noir tropes avoids cliché because of how well developed Helman’s character
is. With femme fatals, corruption, drugs
and stand offs; the pulp mystery of yesteryear is alive and well without ever
becoming durative.

The supporting players are strongly conceived avoiding
characters that feel like nothing more than monster/or zonbie fodder.

The mystery Helman investigates plays out well. Lamberson peels back each layer slowly so
that by the final reveal it all makes perfect sense. The story is filled with blistering action
sequences that are so well written no one feels safe, even Helman.(Who I knew
has at least two more books)

Despite all these positives the story lost me. There is a singular event that feels
incredibly out of place and indicative of what I see as the weakness of a
series. SPOILER HIGHLIGHT TO READ A key character is turned into a raven, and now Jake has a
raven that can respond to verbal commands.
I know this is a story with Voodoo magic and other fantastical elements,
but this felt cheesy and lacking the grit of the rest of the book.

Overview;

Gregory Lamberson’s Desperate Souls blew me away when I began
reading it. Filled with amazing visuals,
creative actions sequences and a well-constructed noir influenced mystery I was
hooked. A plot choice by Lamberson took
me out of the story in the final stretch, but tastes are individual. If you can roll with it you are in for an
amazing read.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

If you would like a personalized e-signature copy of Where the Dead Fear to Tread just send me a message via facebook or goodreads, with your name and the email address you would like the copy sent to. You will receive an email at the given address with your signed copy. All this for only $4.99 the retail cover price. This is good for all e-reader formats.